The two families that make up the permanent contingent of the Freedom Farm community. ( Robert Breese) This is what food justice looks like A warm, earthy smell drifted in from the snow-covered fields as I pulled up to Freedom Farm – how welcome in the doldrums... Features 31 Mar 2022 | 02:09
Swallow of a different color I wouldn’t exactly call myself a birdwatcher, but I do like birds. I’m especially fond of chickadees, mourning doves, cardinals,... Features 20 Dec 2021 | 01:55
Harrison working his bees barehanded. He gets stung so often that by the end of the season, he hardly reacts anymore. ( Becca Tucker) The EpiPen kid Eleven-year-old Patrick Harrison was the EpiPen kid. After a bee sting at Cub Scout camp blew him up like “the Michelin man,”... Features 09 Feb 2022 | 12:03
Seven minutes to midnight In 2017, I began visiting federal prisoners as a volunteer with Prisoner Visitation and Support. One of the first men I met... Features 29 Nov 2021 | 10:19
Stuff we dig 1. Beeswax CandlesAlysia Mazzella, 32, is a self-taught chandler who sources all her beeswax from independent apiaries in... Features 08 Oct 2021 | 12:02
Where eagles fly Last winter was cold and the snow was deep. If you happened to be a non-hibernating, four-legged herbivore there was almost... Features 16 Sep 2021 | 02:57
Maxfield chose the ogre-faced spider because of its “two huge front-facing eyes... I figured that people tend to connect better to animals that have big round eyes like that.” Insect declines are having knock-on effects up the food chain on animals like birds and spiders, whose webs have fewer bugs in them these days. ( Illustration by Zoe Maxfield) The good, the bad and the bugly I freely admit, when it comes to healthy living from the ground up, I am a newbie. One of the most difficult challenges I’ve... Features 20 Jul 2021 | 02:01
Sarah Hambrick with a flat of marigolds growing in a greenhouse in Chester. ( Becca Tucker) ‘Bride’s best friend’ grows local roots Sarah Hambrick was 19, bouncing from major to major at Dutchess Community College, the winter she took a seasonal job at... Features 23 Jun 2021 | 03:13
Everett Cox on Memorial Day ( Photo by Dorathea Hahn) ‘They’re facing their mortality, my generation’ I never imagined that lonely old vets – from WWII, Korea, Vietnam – or their caregivers would hold my hand while crying and... Griterati 04 Jun 2021 | 12:27
Cecropia Moth Caterpillar ( Illustration by Zoe Maxfield) We should all be bug people. (Yes, that means you.) Are you old enough to remember splattered bugs on your car’s windshield? Back in the day — let’s say 40 or 50 years ago —... Features 14 Apr 2021 | 10:39
Martha Echevarria, 64, after a Sunday walk at Veterans Memorial Park in Warwick. She has lost 30 pounds since her doctor gave her an ultimatum. She had lost weight before, but it had always returned. This time, with her life on the line, it feels different. ( Becca Tucker) A heavy toll Martha Echevarria, of Greenwood Lake, NY, had always been on the chubby side. “But in the last 10 years, I guess when I start... Features 16 Mar 2021 | 03:31
Zeke and his mom, the author Jesse Clark, who captioned this photo: “Nothing more precious than the people who know when you need a hug.” ( PHOTOS PROVIDED) Living our lives label free Jesse Clark, farmer and committed free spirit, gave birth to her fourth baby two Thanksgivings ago, shortly after launching... Features 02 Dec 2020 | 01:53
Humble Procrastinator began last year when an Adirondack mom put out a Facebook invite to friends to try her eco-friendly wares, which she stitches in her basement. Stuff we dig Quilly Nearly a billion birds die each year flying into windows, according to the Audubon Society, almost twice as many as... Home 11 Sep 2020 | 03:00
Malaak, 7, holding a hen ( Michael Bloom) Keeping the faith... in farming Growing up Muslim in 1980s Rockland County, NY, meant spending a lot of Saturdays in church basements. Nascent community... Features 09 Sep 2020 | 01:18
The coming of age of a Black woman farmer Editor’s note: This first-person piece was originally published in Dirt’s January ‘18 issue. I grew up in Missouri, the “show-me”... Features 23 Jul 2020 | 01:04
